Twists and Turns
by Blue-Foods.42
Summary: Join Ruby Dixon as she experiences the twists and turns of life during her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Witness the drama that seventh year has to offer for Ruby Dixon and her best friends Lily Evans, Clover Benet, and Anna Dylan. And laugh with Gryffindor as the Marauders pull their annual pranks.
1. early mornings

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

With a grunt, I rolled over and smack the beeping alarm clock on my bedside table. The room went silent once again. Though my vision is blurred, I could still make out the time that is flashing on the clock. _5:00 am._ _It's way too early to be alive yet._

"Rise and shine, sweetheart! You're going to be late!" my mother called up the stairs. _Curse my parents for being early risers! _ I say miserably to myself.

"Never!" I shouted back.

"That's it. I'm up!" yelled my father.

My eyes widened greatly, "Oh god." I whisper to myself. As the large footsteps came closer to my room, I did the best I could to cocoon myself in whatever sheets that remanded on my bed (I'm a restless sleeper), hoping that it would be enough to protect myself from what lied ahead. Once fully protected, I could hear my father barge into the room and jump on my bed in one swift motion. Practically suffocating me under his weight. "Why? Why must you torture me like this?" I moaned dramatically.

"'Cause you'll never get out of bed if I don't"

"Remind me again why I have to wake up so early?"

"Because you leave for Hogwarts today of course!" without actually seeing him, I knew he was grinning. It just seemed like something he would do, I guess. Then seconds later, when I finally understood what he had uttered, I popped my head out of the small breathing hole I had left my head. "Seriously?! It's September 1st already?" I asked.

"Yes, seriously!"

"Why didn't anyone tell me this last night? Or two weeks ago for that matter?! Did we even go diagon ally yet?" I asked, completely confused. It felt like only yesterday I had left Hogwarts to go home for the summer.

"We did. And we already covered diagon ally, don't you remember? We got you a present for earning all those O's last year."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Quickly I looked my room over and my eyes focused on a small, golden, fluff ball in the corner of the room, fast asleep in a plush, green cat bed.

"Honestly Rue, you've only had him for a week and you've already forgotten about even owning him?" with that dramatic statement he walked over to where the cat was innocently sleeping, much like I was before I was rudely awoken. He scooped up the barely three-month old cat and walked back over to my bed, cradling the feline like a baby.

"How can you forget such a cute little face like his?" as he spoke he held the cat up beside his face, trying to match his face with the innocent look on the golden tabby.

"I didn't forget. I'm just tired that's all. Now, hand Keifer over." I say plainly extending my arms to take my cat back. Reluctantly, my dad handed him over.

"Now, remind me again why you gave him a human name? And an odd one at that."

"Because it suits him. Plus I think giving him a name like Fluffy, Snowball or Tippy would be undermining his intelligence."

"Fair enough. Now as I was saying earlier, it's time to get up. Otherwise you _and_ Keifer are going to be late."

"Fine, fine. I'll do it for Keifer's sake." I say with a huff.

"Your mother already has breakfast ready down stairs" he said as he jumped up from the bed and made his way out of my room.

As I sat up slowly, I called out to him, "hey Dad?"

"Yes Ruby?" he said, poking his head back into the room.

"Is Mom coming to the train station?"

"She has to work today, sorry sweetie. Plus-"he lowered his voice, so my mom couldn't hear downstairs, "You know how uneasy she gets about all this magic stuff"

I nod, mostly out of habit. You have no clue how many times I've heard that excuse before. Both my parents are muggles, which makes me a muggle born. Even though my dad isn't a wizard, he has loved the idea of magic ever since he was a child. Whereas my mother on the other hand was weary about the idea. And since she was so weary about magic, she has made it her mission to come up with an excuse every year for why she couldn't come. Honestly, I would must rather her just tell me she doesn't want to come; anything would be better than having you one true gift ignored your own mother. But it's not like I'm her only child either, I do have siblings. Two brothers, Cole and Jack. Both are younger than me, not old enough to receive their letters yet. That is, assuming that at least one of them are 'special' like me, as my father would say.

"You ok there Rue?" asked my dad. With a jolt, I came out of my daze to realize that he was still peaking around the corner.

"Yeah, fine" I said instinctively.

"Okay, well you'd better hop into the shower. Maybe that'll wake you up a bit more. Then you can come down and eat."

Two hours later and I had finally showered, eaten, packed and stubbornly fought Keifer into his travelling cage. I'd trust him enough yet to let him roam with me on the platform. With my dad's help, I loaded my trunk into the back of our van and carried the cage, with Keifer growling inside, into the front seat with me.

"Ready for Freddy?" Dad said as he hopped into the drivers' seat.

"Who's Freddy?" I asked, confused.

"Never mind" he said shaking his head. "Let's hit the road"

"That's mean. Wouldn't the road cry if we hit it?" I frown slightly.

"How are you even my daughter?" my dad asked, obviously offended.

"I'm just joking, Dad. Let's hit the road like it stole our donuts"

"That's my girl" he said, laughing as we pulled out of the drive way.

**This is my first time writing a story, so please be kind. if you have any suggestions for my writing style please let me know. same for if I screw up on an important detail. I have big plans for this story so bear with me as I attempt to put it into words. second chapter should be up within a day or two! Comment, follow, favourite my story! I love to hear back so don't be shy! :)**

**~ Blue-Foods.42**


	2. Chocolate covered cheeks

**Chapter 2:**

Platform 9 ¾ was super busy, as always. Dad didn't come with me through the barrier this time. He said something about me being old enough to go on my own, I think. I wasn't really listening; I was too busy thinking about seeing my best friends, Anna Dylan, Clover Benet, and Lily Evans. _I wonder how their summers were? _I thought to myself, _probably more eventful than mine._ Which was true, nothing exciting happened during the summer. The only thing that I would consider 'exciting' about my summer was getting Keifer from my parents. Unless you could count Jack losing his first tooth. But I highly doubt that anyone, but my mother, would care much about that.

"RUBY!" some screamed, and then tackled me from behind. The impact was so great that both of us hit the solid ground with a _thump_.

"Was it seriously necessary for you to tackle me?" I asked, rubbing my elbows.

"Well, I thought it was until three seconds ago." She said, groaning as she pushed herself up into a sitting positon. We were getting a lot of disapproving looks from the parents that filled the platform, but I just shook them off. "You know, for someone so smart I would have thought that you'd think things out a bit more before following through with them" I joked. I stood up and then put out a hand to assist Lily up as well. She took it and we were both at our full height now. Lily was about the same height as me, if not taller.

"Oh! That reminds me, I've got big news!" she said excitedly, "look what came in the post!" she pointed proudly to her chest, where a gleaming new head girl badge was safely secured to her robes.

"You're head girl?!" I said, mocking a shocked look. I knew she would get it, she was the smartest girl in our year.

"Yup"

"I'm so happy for you!" It was true, I was happy for her. I mean it would have been nice to be head girl, don't get me wrong. But Lily earned it, and for that, she deserves it. Then a thought popped into my head, so I asked it, "Whose head boy then?"

"No clue. I just hope he's not a prat" she sighed. In the back ground, a train whistle blew. "Better get on the train before it leaves without us"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss it. Then we'd have to drive a flying car or something to Hogwarts" I joked.

"Yeah, imagine that!" laughed Lily.

"I'll be right back, I've got to start the prefects meeting" said Lily as we entered the train.

"Okay, I'll find Anna and Clover then. See you soon, I guess." I said, waving as she walked away. The train was nearly as crowded as the platform had been. And considering the large amount of first years this year, it wasn't too surprising that all the compartments were taken. Three-quarters of the way towards the back of the train is where I finally find my friends. Huddled on the far side, Anna and Clover where talking about their summers. Clover had blonde, curly hair that was neatly pulled into a ponytail, blue eyes, and was smaller and quitter than most Gryffindors. Anna on the other hand, was a tall, loud, enthusiastic brunet, with wavy locks that made it just past her shoulders. She had the oddest, stormy, grey eyes that made her look like she was literally 'brainstorming' all the time. They both smiled warmly as I walked into the compartment, still clutching Keifer's cage in my arms. I sat down next to Clover on the left side of the compartment.

"So this is the fur ball I've been hearing about?" said Anna, as she wiggled a finger in between the bars of the cage. With a hiss from the golden tabby, Anna pulled her hand back and gave me an offended look. I shrugged. "He doesn't like to be patronized" I said plainly, setting Keifer's cage on the trunk rack above.

"Makes sense" Clover agreed. "How was your summer with the muggles?" Both Clover and Anna were half-bloods, leaving me and Lily as _the_ muggle-borns.

"Boring" I said, groaning dramatically. "Yours?"

"Ummm not bad I guess." Anna said, speaking for both her and Clover.

"Okay, I'm back" huffed Lily as she slid the compartment door shut. With a worried glance through the glass door, then back at us. Lily plopped down in the seat across from me before she spoke again, pointing at the door, "Does that thing lock? I think Potter and the other Marauders are following me"

"Alas, it doesn't Evans" said none other than James Potter as he poked his head through the door.

"Speak of the devil himself" said Anna from the far end of the compartment.

"Mind if we join you girls? All the other compartments are full" James said grinning. Before anyone could answer he had already walked into the space and sat down beside Lily.

"Morning Rue," said an irritating voice. I looked back to the door and to my horror saw Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, enter the compartment after James. Sirius grinned and sauntered over, taking a seat beside be. With a yawn, he stretched his arms and carefully placed the one closed to me, around my shoulders.

"Get. Your. Arm. Off" I demanded, through gritted teeth.

"Your wish is my command, my little gem." He smirked, removing his arm. Even with his arm off my shoulders, he stayed as uncomfortably close as before. Leaving Remus and Peter to sit on the floor by James and Sirius' feet.

"I'm not your gem, Black." I said through gritted teeth. I tried my best to sound, or at least look, intimidating. But this just made him grin.

"Your too cute, Dixon. You really need to stop that." His grin widened.

"Trust me, if I could I would" I mumbled.

"Look at them, Evans. Why can't we be that cute?" James pointed to Sirius and I as he spoke to Lily.

"Remus, can you do anything to make him stop?" Lily pleaded.

"Sorry, you're on your own." Remus sighed.

"This is going to be a long train ride isn't it?" I pout.

"Yes it is." Sirius said, trying once more to place his arm around me, before I elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Feisty, this one."

"Shut up." I murmured.

"God help us" Lily said, giving me a look that screamed 'get him away from me!'. We groaned in unison and each gave all the Marauders a death glare, hoping it would actually make them all drop dead. Sadly, we didn't succeed, so we both slumped back in our seats, groaning even more. Then, something catches my eye.

"What's that on your shirt?" I asked James.

"What this?" he said, pointing to a badge pinned over his heart. I nodded. "Evans hasn't told you yet has she?" he grinned evilly at Lily, whose sunk further into her seat.

"Tell me what?" I asked cautiously.

"I've been granted the honour to share head dorm with Miss Lily Evans here." At the mention of her name, he put an arm around her and squeezed.

"You're head boy?!" I choked out, completely shocked. James Potter was literally the last person that I, or anyone, would have thought to be head boy. Dumbledore must be off his rocker.

"Sadly, yes. Yes he is." pouted Lily. Then she jabbed James in the ribs, like I had done earlier to Sirius.

"I sympathize you, Lily" I said.

"As you should" she scooted as far away from James as she could, without pushing Anna too far into the window.

"We should probably put our school robes on now. We'll be at Hogwarts soon" said Clover, looking down at her muggle watch.

"Go right ahead" said Sirius. I smacked him upside the head and shouted in his ear to get out. "Okay, okay. We're going! Geez, no need to get your nickers in a twist." He rubbed the back of his head as he left the compartment at last, James, Peter, and Remus following behind him.

"Give us a shout when you're done" Remus said before trying to closing the door.

"Yeah, so we can get changed too!" piped up Peter. Sirius shook his head behind Peter, "No Peter, we asked them to call us when their done, so we can all go swimming in the compartment together" Sirius said sarcastically, looking up, as if talking to the ceiling.

"There's no need to be mean Padfoot" said Peter, frowning.

"With you, there is" said Sirius, looking down at Peter. There was a great height difference between them. Sirius was the tallest, then James, Remus and finally Peter (by practically half a foot).

"Just call us" repeated Remus, finally closing the door.

"I can't believe I have to share the head house with Potter!" Lily moaned, as she pulled her trunk down from the rack above.

"I can't believe you're leaving me alone in the Gryffindor house with Black!" I said pulling my own truck down.

"You won't be alone, Ruby. We'll still be there." Clover said with a small smile.

"That doesn't make this any better"

"Ouch" Anna said, frowning.

"Sorry" I apologized.

"Are you almost done in there?!" James yelled from outside. "It's cold out here!"

"We're in a train you idiots! There's no wind in here!" Anna shouted back to them.

"Oh. Well, hurry up anyway!"

"Fine." I looked around the room. Anna was helping Clover with her tie, and Lily was just pulling her arm through her last sleeve. _Well_ I thought to myself, _we're mostly dressed anyway._ I turned around and slid open the door. "Be quick" I said to the boys as us girls filed out.

"Faster than you, probably" said Sirius playfully. I shot him a glare and he instantly shut up and hurried into the compartment.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" said an old witch from behind us. The trolley that she pulled was stocked full of different kinds of wizarding candy.

"Just a Cauldron Cake for me please" I said politely. "Oh, and a couple of Licorice Wands for Anna, a box of Bernie's Every Flavoured Beans for Clover and ummm… a few Chocolate Frogs for Lily." The witch turned to the trolley and then handed each of us the candy that we ordered.

"Thank you" Anna said to the witch, with a smile.

"Wait," I spoke up, just as the witch turned to walk away. "I'm going to get some candy for the boys too. Maybe they'll shut up if their mouths are too full of candy."

"They'll probably find a way to talk, even with their mouths full," Anna shrugged, "It's worth a shot though."

"Four Cauldron Cakes and eight Chocolate Frogs please," She handed me my second order and I let her walk away this time. She didn't make it very far though before a crowd of hungry students huddled around her.

"You guys done in there yet?!" Anna shouted to the door of our compartment.

"Nearly!" Remus yelled back.

"Well, hurry up! I've gotten some candy for you guys!" I shouted. Almost instantly, the door slid open and Sirius stood in the door frame with a smirk plastered on his face.

"I knew you cared" he said, winking.

"Shut up" I grumbled.

"Do my ears deceive me, or did you say you had candy?" James said from the far side of the compartment. I shoved my way past Sirius, and dropped the candy on the seat that Anna had been sitting on. Immediately, all four boys pounced onto the pile of Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs.

"Thanks, Love" Sirius said through a mouth full of chocolate frogs. Then, before I could react, he jumped up and kissed me on the cheek, smearing chocolate all over it.

"Ewww! Honestly, Sirius!" I said in shock. He just stood there grinning widely for a minute before returning back to his candy, which was quickly vanishing before his eyes.

"I tried to tell you that it wouldn't shut him up" said Anna, in an 'I told you so' kind of way.

"I'll try and listen better next time" I said grumpily as I wiped the chocolate off my cheek.


	3. I told you so!

**Twists and Turns**

**Chapter 3:**

All the voices in the Great Hall echoed off the high ceilinged walls. The first years had just finished being sorted into their respected houses. I looked down the Gryffindor table at the newly sorted first years. The majority of this year's newbies were placed into Gryffindor, which took up a quarter of the long, wooden table. Then I looked back to where I was sitting, with Lily on my left side, Clover on Lily's left, and unfortunately, Sirius on my right, sitting too close for comfort. Anna, Remus, James and Peter opposite us. Professor Dumbledore was finishing up his regular speech, reminding everyone not to use the third floor corridor unless they wanted to die, and so on. You know the normal everyday Hogwarts stuff. Then something he said caught my attention, so I came out of my daze to listen.

"Be sure to congratulate our new head boy and girl when passing them in the corridors," Dumbledore said as he gestured towards Lily and James, smiling, "And speaking of our new head boy and girl, would both of you mind visiting my office after the feast?"

"Ohhhhhh! Someone's in trouble" Sirius said, leaning over the table.

"You may come to Mr. Black," Dumbledore spoke. Sirius' face reddened. Dumbledore continued, "and please have Miss Dixon accompany you as well." This time it was my face that reddened.

What was so important that Dumbledore himself had to speak to be about? It's only my first day back! How could I have gotten into trouble already?! Wait…. Sirius was called too….that means he must have done something wrong and dragged me into it! It was the Marauder in him. Yup, that's what I'm going with. I'm still innocent and Black just dragged me into one of his stupid pranks and this is just a big misunderstanding. No worries…right?

The feast didn't feel as long as it usually did. Between all of the amazing foods that the house elves in the kitchen made, I only had a chicken leg and some side salad. I was too paranoid about what Dumbledore wanted to talk about with me, Sirius, James and Lily. Obviously he wanted to talk to Lily and James about their Head duties, but me and Sirius? What's up with that? As the hall slowly began to empty, Lily's voice brought me back into reality.

"We should head up to his office now. He's already felt the staff table" she said pointing to the empty headmaster's chair.

"Yeah, I suppose" I replied glumly.

"Oh cheer up, Rube" said Sirius, poking me into the ribs. As if that was supposed to make me any happier about this. "Old Dumblydore might have finally agreed to let me share a room with you. I mean if James can with Lily, then why can't I? This could be great news for us"

"First of all," interjected Lily as we left the hall and started for the headmaster's office, "James and I are not sharing a room, just a dorm-"

"I would be perfectly happy with that too" Sirius smirked.

"-and second of all, Dumbledore would have to be off his rocker to believe for one second that you'd leave poor Ruby here alone, while sharing a room or dorm. She'd go mad, being alone with you every day and night."

"I don't know, I think it's a great idea. I'd take great care of her; I'd be sure to feed her and take her on walks and tuck her in every night" he finished, winking at me. I groaned for the thousandth time that day, and stepped onto the golden, spiral staircase. Once we finally reached the top, I knocked on the tall door blocking us out of his office. The doors opened and we proceeded in.

"Ah, my new Heads" said Dumbledore warmly as entered. He was already sitting behind his desk, waiting for us to arrive. "Come in, please. Sit, sit." He waved his wand gracefully and four chairs flew over and set themselves opposite him. We each took a seat; I sat on the edge and waited for the headmaster to speak again. But he never did. He just sat there, continuing to smile at each of us, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses.

"You wanted to speak with us, Professor?" Lily asked politely.

"Ah, yes. It has come to my attention that both you and Mr. Potter here do not get along?" he said, still smiling.

"Not particularly, no" said Lily before James could get a word out.

"So, I have made my choice on how to handle this, shall we say problem? This is where Mr. Black and Miss Dixon come in," he paused, "I have arranged for you two," he gestured to Sirius and me, "to share the head dorm with Mr. Potter and Miss Evans." I glanced at James and Sirius, shocked. Shocked that I had to share a dorm with them, _just_ them (plus Lily), and shocked because _Dumbledore_ had decided this. And here I was thinking that he was a genius. No genius would trust Sirius and James, of all people, to be mature about this arrangement. The boys on the other hand, looked over the moon-thrilled about this announcement.

"But Professor-" I started.

"No butts, Miss Dixon." Dumbledore held up his hand. Sirius was clearly trying his best to suppress a laugh at the word 'butt'. _Real mature, Sirius. _I thought to myself. "My decision has already been made"

"What would be the point of this though, Professor?" questioned Lily.

"To restore the peace, of course." said Dumbledore, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "To restore the peace both between yourself and Mr. Potter, and Miss Dixon and Mr. Black. You will help each other to overcome your differences for the good of the school.

This is why I have chosen yourself and Mr. Black for this task and not one of your other friends, Miss Dixon. Because the ties are so tight between you and Miss Evans. And between you and Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Any other student would be ill fitted for sure an important task." Dumbledore finished and folded his hands neatly his desk. The manner had already been discussed, end of story. There was no going back, no that Dumbledore had spoken.

I glared at Sirius, who grinned greatly back. Then Dumbledore spoke again, more breathy than before, "Now that that has been dealt with, shall I show you to your dorms?" We all nodded and he continued, "follow me then, to the fifth floor corridor"

We followed our headmaster obediently to the fifth floor, stopping inform of a painting of an interesting witch. She looked to wealthy, probably pure-blood, but not royalty. Although she looked the part of a Gryffindor; confident, brave, daring, you could see the intelligence in her eyes. A true Ravenclaw. On the plaque below, it read _Lady Abigale II. _

Dumbledore turned to us and spoke for the first time since we had left his office. But he didn't speak to us, he spoke directly to the lady in the painting. "Wi-Fi" he said. Lady Abigale nodded and swung open.

"If you don't mind me asking-" started Lily.

"Not at all, not at all. Ask away my dear." said Dumbledore.

"- but what is Wi-Fi, exactly?" she finished.

"It's going to be big" he said enthusiastically, "in the muggle world at least. Sadly, because of our lack of technology in the wizarding world, we will not have the privilege to enhance this useful tool." He frowned slightly, and then stepped into the Head dormitory.

The dorm was quite larger than I would have guessed. Maybe it was usually smaller, maybe it was added onto because there are two extra people this year. Who knows really? Hogwarts is a very confusing place, and that's why I love it so much.

There were two doors on each side of the room, and an assortment of couches and chairs in the middle. By the chairs was a fireplace, already roaring with fire. The room reminded me very much of the Gryffindor common room, it was even decorated with the house colours, scarlet and gold. This made sense really, seeing as how all of its guests were from Gryffindor. On the far side of the room, were a few desks for studying and a bookshelf full of books, probably borrowed from the library.

"On the left side is the girls bedrooms" said Dumbledore, indicating the left door, " and the boys bedrooms to the right. There is a bath room in between each room-"

"We have to share a bathroom?" James asked, stunned by the thought.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. So shower quickly. Even here at Hogwarts, we are trying to go green." He said with a warm smile. "I'm sure you can all settle yourselves now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Professor" said Lily as the headmaster left the dormitory, stroking his long, white beard.

"I knew he'd think it was a great idea" said Sirius, he was literally jumping up and down in one spot with a huge grin on his face. Even if I smacked him hard a thousand times, I doubt the grin would fade….


	4. by the lake side

**Twists and Turns**

**Chapter 4:**

"I can't believe this!" I shouted once Dumbledore was out of ear shot.

"I know!" Lily also shouted, throwing her hands in the air in defeat, "how can he do this to us?!"

"Honestly you two, I don't see a problem with this arrangement" Sirius was roaming the dorm, exploring, looking for anything else that could possibly make this any better. He looked like a child in a candy store.

"Maybe, to you, but I would rather not spend my seventh, and last year, stuck in a room with you two idiots" I retorted.

"Hey guys! Come check out the bathroom!" James shouted from the boy's bedroom.

Sirius sprinted to where James was, and Lily and I followed. James saw us and frowned slightly, "how come you're allowed in our room, but we aren't allowed in the girls' room?"

"Because, clearly, girls are more mature than…" Lily paused and then also frowned, "how do you know that you can't enter the girls' bedrooms?" she questioned.

"Ummm…."

"You already tried didn't you?"

"Maybe…"

"God, James"

"Did Lily Evans, actually use my first name? Politely?" James smirked.

"It slipped" Lily growled.

"Ummm…" Sirius piped up, "can I see the bathroom now or…." His voice trailed off before he could finish his sentence, then he leaned over and whispered to me, "I think she's gonna blow." It was true; Lily's face was quickly darkening with anger at the fact that James caught her using his first name. Lily _never, ever,_ used James' first name. _Ever._ She always just called him 'Potter', saying it with as much dislike as she could muster.

I nodded my head, slowly. Then I whispered back, "Yeah, I think your right."

"We should probably leave," Sirius said, continuing to whisper, "back up slowly and maybe she won't notice"

He grabbed my arm and slowly guided me out of the room. Then, just to be safe, we left the dormitory altogether. We were just stepping out of the portrait hole when we heard Lily's rant begin, "IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I USED YOUR FIRST NAME! WHAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU SNUCK INTO OUR ROOM WITHIN THE FIRST 10 FRICKIN MINUTES OF BEING HERE!"

"Come on, I know a place where we won't be able to hear them" Sirius said, letting the portrait shut behind us. You could still clearly hear Lily screaming in the head boy's bedroom. Without really thinking, I followed Sirius down the corridor. His hand was still holding gently, yet firmly, onto my forearm. I was still so shaken up by Lily's outburst, that I didn't even bother shaking him off. Then as we rounded a corner, he slipped his hand down my arm and into mine. I would never admit this to anyone, but it felt kind of… good. God. _What's wrong with me? I should be slapping his hand away._ And yet… I wasn't.

I looked up at Sirius' face; I could just make out a hint of a smirk playing on his lips as he lead me away from our dormitory. _Why am I letting him do this? Snap out of it, Ruby! Wake up from this nightmare already!_

We trotted down a couple sets of stairs. Then, as we came closer to the old, heavy, wooden front doors, Sirius finally spoke again. "We're almost there," he whispered. _I must be in shock, I'd have to be. _That's the only reasonable explanation. Unless….No! Never! But…

We stepped out into the cool evening air. It wasn't quite dark yet, but the sun was preparing to set. I glanced up at Sirius and he held a finger to his lips. _Quiet._ Quietly, he led me down to the lake and he released my hand, lowering himself to the ground to sit on the lake bed. I followed him and sat down beside him. A cold breeze nipped me, and I realized that I had left my cloak up on the fifth floor. It was cold, considering it was only September. I shivered. Sirius noticed this and pulled his cloak off and placed it around my shoulders. I would have shrugged it off…if it wasn't so cold. So I gave in and let him place an arm over top of the cloak.

"I never would have thought that Lily would have a temper," Sirius said chuckling, "but with all that red hair, I should have known that she'd have some Irish blood. They do have bad tempers."

I didn't join in with him, I didn't answer either. I just stared off into the horizon, watching the sun prepare to take its nap. A lot happened today. It was too much. Too overwhelming. And tomorrow, with all the school work, it'll just get worse. I could just faintly hear Lily's screams from here, or maybe I was just imagining it. I could also imagine James shrinking into a corner as Lily was yelling at him, as if cowering from his torturer. Poor kid. But, he did have it coming, after the years of him tormenting her; it was only a matter of time.

Sirius followed my gaze. Then he spoke again, this time in more of a soothing way, "You wanna hear a poem?" I nodded, and closed my eyes, listening hard.

"As the day ends to rest  
>The sunset does its best<br>Setting on fire the lively waves  
>Colouring orange the nature he saves<br>its pure ancient glorious perfection.

The great ocean will receive  
>The burning sun who's going to leave.<br>Slowly comes the night  
>Devouring that magic light:<br>we are still suspended in a great delight"

I opened my eyes as he finished reciting the last line. Sirius was staring at me now, watching me closely. "Who wrote that?" I asked in a whisper.

"No clue," he whispered back. Then, he leaned in towards me. He was so close that I could see the colours changing in his eyes. Every time that you pin-pointed a colour it would change once again. It was mesmerizing. Our noses we almost touching now. He leaned in even closer, the space between our lips decreasing rapidly. And then…I woke up.

"Nice try, Black" I said, leaned away from him. "But it's going to take a lot more than that to get to me"

Sirius looked utterly shocked. He looked up at me as I stood up, smirking to myself. Then he fell back, sprawled across the lake bed. "This close!" he moaned, holding up his index finger and his thumb less than an inch apart, "I was this freakin' close to finally kissing you!"

"I know, you idiot. I was there remember?" I mocked. He gave me a greatly disappointed look and then closed his eyes, pouting. I turned away from him and watched the sun as it finally set. "How are we going to get back up to the dorm without getting caught now?" I asked him.

Sirius opened one eye and looked at me hard, and then the horizon. Then he opened the other eye and sat up, looking towards the castle. "It'll be a piece of cake. I had it all planned out ahead of time," he stopped and frowned at me, "although, in _my_ plan, I _did_ kiss you."

"Well, next time, come up with a backup plan" I smirked, I was thoroughly enjoying his reaction to me not kissing him, "now, what's your plan for getting back up to the castle then?"

Sirius stood up in front of me, "This" he said, pulling a funny looking cloak out of his pocket.

"And that would be?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen an invisibility cloak before" a smirk playing on his lips, as I stared at it in shock. "It's James'"

"And why do you have it then?" I asked.

He shrugged, "he lets me borrow it sometimes." Sirius unfolded the cloak and threw it over himself. Instantly, he was out of sight. I heard rustling around me and then next thing I knew something, Sirius no doubt, pecked me on the lips. I jumped back in shock. Then Sirius' head popped out of nowhere, suspended in midair. He had a wicked grin on his face as he bobbed in midair. "Sirius! You prat!" I hissed at him, "that doesn't even count cause there was a cloak in between."

"Come on" he said, laughing quietly, "you coming under or what?"

"I'm coming" I mumbled, "move over will you?"

"I _am_ over." he said as he pulled the cloak over us. "Cozy isn't it?" he said smiling down at me. We were practically as close as we were, sitting on the lake bed.

"Shut up, will you?"

"Fine, fine. Geez you're bossy"

Slowly, and quietly, we made our way up to the castle. We only pasted two teachers on the way up, and no one even seemed to notice the extra pair of feet shuffling across the floor. Finally we made it to the Head dorm. James was sprawled out on the couch and the head girl's bedroom door was shut, I assumed that's where Lily was hiding. James sat up when he heard the portrait door close; he scanned the room, but saw no one there. Then oddly enough, he looked directly to where Sirius and I were standing under the cloak. He didn't look through us, but _at_ us. Sirius pulled the cloak off of us and James slumped back into the couch.

"Don't _ever _leave me alone like that again," James groaned.

"Sorry mate," Sirius apologized.

James looked back and forth between the two of us. We were still standing _very_ close. Then asked, "did it work?" Sirius shock his head. I took a step away from Sirius. James looked up at the ceiling and then spoke again, "right when I thought that it was a perfect day too. That was terrifying; I didn't know she could be so scary!"


	5. the library

**Twists and Turns**

**Chapter 5:**

The first week of schooling was uneventful. Lily hasn't talked to James since the first time back. And was doing the best I could to avoided Sirius. But, since we shared a dorm, it didn't last long. I tried everything; hiding in broom closets, which he thought was a romantic gesture (ew!), roaming the school grounds, and finally, hiding behind stacks of books in the library. But every time, he found me. The worst of it was that they were actually _good_ hiding spots! It's not easy finding one person in a crowd of hundreds roaming the grounds. Somehow he managed though, and I'd love to know how. _Maybe he has a map that can pin-point people's locate!_ I thought to myself. _Nah, that's a stupid idea._

As I sat at the Gryffindor table, on a Saturday morning, munching on toast, I let these thoughts flow through my head. _There's got to be a secret to it! _ Then, a voice pulled me out of my thoughts. It was Anna, "You ok there Ruby?" she asked cautiously, as if I might explode on her if she said the wrong thing.

"Yeah why?" I asked a little too harshly.

"Well, you're giving the pancakes a pretty nasty look"

"Oh," I said, colour rising to my face.

"Oh, look at that. She's blushing just from my presence." Sirius grinned as he sat down across from me, "I didn't even have to compliment her."

"Yeah I see Padfoot." Said Remus, as he and Peter sat down close by.

"Oh! But you should say it anyway, Padfoot. Just for good measure" squeaked Peter.

"Excellent idea, Wormtail," Sirius turned in his seat and looked directly at me, "You look beautiful today, Ruby."

I almost blushed even more. _Almost._ But I pushed the colour back out of my face altogether. I gave him a hard look and then returned to my toast. I could hear James trying to cox Lily into talking to him a few seats down. But James had no luck, Lily was ignoring him completely. I wonder how long this was going to last. Lily ignoring James I mean. I have to admit though; they would make a pretty cute couple. So would I and Sirius, I guess. _Wait! Why am I still thinking like this? What's going on with me lately? Snap out of it Ruby! You know better than this!_

"Ruby?" Sirius' said slowly, pulling my attention back to him.

"Sorry what?" I asked. I literally didn't hear a thing than any of them were saying. I've been zoning out like this all week, it's weird.

Sirius smiled and then repeated what he said when I wasn't listening, "I said, 'do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?' The first trip is next weekend."

"Why so soon?" I asked.

"I think you've known for a while that I would ask you to-"

"No not that. I meant, why is the trip coming up so early in the year?"

"Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea," said Lily, looking down the table at us.

"Sooooo?" Sirius leaned over the table in anticipation.

"So what?" I asked, stupidly.

Sirius smacked his forehead with the inside of his palm. Then repeated for the third time, "do you want to go the Hogsmeade with me?"

"Oh, yeah"

"Really?!" he perked up.

"No"

"But-"

"No"

"What if I-"

"Absolutely…" he perked up again, and then I finished my sentence before he got to happy, "not"

"Why not?" he pouted.

"'Cause"

"'Cause why?"

"Just because"

"'Because' isn't an answer"

"I just don't, okay?!" I shouted. I rose from my seat and left the great hall quickly, trying not to be seen. I didn't really know where I was exactly going. But at least my feet did, because they led me straight to the library, and to my book pile fortress in the back. I nuzzled into the cushioned chair behind the book walls, and picked up a book. There was no way I'd be able to focus long enough to read now, so I decided to just look at the pictures and pretend to read. My sanctuary was soon disturbed by someone knocking on the book walls. The books shuddered slightly, but didn't fall over. A head peaked over the top of one wall and I instantly recognised it to be Sirius Black. "Blacks are not welcome here" I stated.

"Well that's a little racist, don't you think?" he joked.

"Ha-ha, you're so funny" I mocked. I was in no mood for this. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you were okay"

I cocked an eyebrow, "Are you serious?"

"Why yes I am, and you're Ruby, right?" I rolled my eyes; he grinned, then stepped around the book wall and pocked his head into the doorway, "may I enter?" I nodded and he came into my hiding space.

Sirius stood there in the entrance of my book castle. I noticed him stuffing an old piece of parchment into his pocket. _Why does he have that?_ He gave me a good look over, and then walked back out. Then he returned, levitating one of the library chairs behind him. He set it down directly in from of me, and sat down with his legs crossed in front of him. "What're you reading?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"The Hunger Games." I said, looking down at my feet, "by Suzanne Collins. It's a muggle book."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, "sounds interesting."

"It is!" I said, suddenly very interested in Sirius' future knowledge of Panem and the districts. "You'd love it!"

"Do you have a copy?" Sirius scooted his chair closer and peered into my lap, where I was hiding my copy of the second book in The Hunger Games series.

"Only mine," I said, "I can lend it to you if you want?"

Sirius smirked playfully, "that would be great."

I smiled back at him. And then I remembered that I was supposed to be mad at him. "Can I see it?" he asked. Slowly, I handed him the book. "It's not the first one though, that one's up in my room, it's the second one; Catching Fire." I said, as he examined the book.

"That's okay."

"No! That's not okay!" I didn't really yell it, but I wasn't exactly trying very hard to keep my voice down either. "You don't just start with the second book and not read the first one. That's just not how it works! You have to start from the beginning so you can learn about how the characters act and think. And what their lives were like before everything got messed up."

Sirius looked taken back. Surprised, about my sudden outburst. "Okay, I get it. I'll start from the beginning," He said.

"Thank you"

"Tell me about yourself."

"What?"

"I'm starting from the beginning. Like you said."

This shocked me momentarily, but I decided to go along with it anyway. I started with the basics. "Ummm…" I started. "I was born on October 17. My full name is Ruby Emma Dixon. I have two younger siblings, Jack and Cole. I live in a town house just ten minutes from Kings cross station. I'm a muggle born and… My favourite color is orange; cereal is my favourite thing in the world. And I have a tree house in our backyard that I still like to play in." Why did I just tell him that?

"There's got to be more than that!" Sirius complained. So far he didn't seem fazed about my still playing in a tree house meant for six-year olds. I shook my head and a small smile began to show on my lips. "Your turn." I said. I tilted my head curiously at Black.

"Pardon?"

"Tell me about yourself now."

"Okay." He started. "Let's see…" Sirius tapped his finger on his chin, thinking. I giggle, and then covered my mouth with my hand. I can't believe I just did that! Sirius noticed and grinned.

"Did Ruby Emma Dixon just laugh at something I said?" I shook my head again, still covering my mouth with my hand. "You did I knew it!"

The look of excitement on his face was enough to get my laughing fit going. I doubled over laughing harder than I had in months. _Why did he have this effect on me?_ Sirius joined in on the laughing and soon the librarian came over looking full out pissed. "SHUSH!" She put her index finger to her crinkled lips and spittle flew everywhere. Sirius and I laughed harder and Madam Pince rounded the corner once more and took both of us by the scruff and directed us towards the door. We were still laughing when she slammed the library door shut behind her. The stitches in my side were aching, but I couldn't stop myself from howling with laughter. I leaned against the wall closest to me and slowly slid down it, until I was sitting on the corridor floor. Soon I was accompanies by Sirius, he too was still laughing _very_ hard. I leaned my forehead into his shoulder, trying to slow down our heavy breathes. It was harder than I thought. But finally I did, and soon after, so did Sirius.

"Yes" I said lifting my head from his shoulder, looking into his eyes.

"I'm confused, yes what?" he asked cocking his head to the side.

"Yes…I'll go to Hogsmeade with you"

"Really?!" he looked completely over joyed. Like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Really." And before I could stop him, he kissed me. Not on the lips, or the cheek this time. But the forehead. Right in between my eyes.

Sirius stood up and back up a few steps. He pointed back at me and smiled. "You won't regret this, Rube!" Sirius smirked one more time and headed off skipping down the corridor. A couple headed for the library had to split their hands to let Sirius pass between them. I watched him go and stood up, still clutching Catching Fire; I hadn't realized I was still holding.

"I can't believe you said yes to him!" Lily said furiously, "I said no to James! We could have gone shopping together!"

_Yay, shopping! _I thought, sarcastically. Honestly, I hated shopping. It was just to boring for dull for my short attention span. "I'm sorry, Lily!" I apologized. We were back at the Gryffindor table, only this time for lunch. I had just told Lily, Anna and Clover, what had happened after I stormed out of the great hall. All of them were completely shocked that I had given into Sirius' badgering. Ever since the fifth year, about the same time that James started hitting on Lily, Sirius has made it his mission to score a date with me. Before I thought that he was just trying to make it his goal to date every girl in our year, and he was just trying to check me off the list. But now….it felt real. Like he actually did care. When I saw the look on his face, after I said yes, I knew that my suspicions had been wrong before. And the fact that he _actually_ _skipped_ down the corridor, just strengthened by beliefs.

"Ruby? Hey, earth to Ruby!" Anna was waving a hand in front of my face, trying to bring my attention back to her.

"What? Yeah, I'm awake" I said, startled, "I was just-"

"Thinking about Sirius?" Clover finished.

I shot her a glare. "I was not-"

"You were too." Lily cut me off, "there's no sense in hiding it now"

"I'm going back up to the dorm" I said flatly. I stood up and stormed out of the great hall for the second time that day. _Why are they being such prats about this? I'm not even actually dating him! I'm just going with him to Hogsmeade. Just this once. That's it. No more. _Why does everything have to be so confusing?!

"Well?" Said an irritated voice. I looked up and realized that I was standing outside of the painting of Lady Abigale. The brave looking lady in the portrait stared at me disapprovingly, "are you going to say the password or what?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry" I stammered. To be honest, the painting kind of freaked me out, and I could tell that Lady Abigale didn't like me either. She always gave me that disapproving look whenever I came up the fifth floor. I bet she didn't like me because I wasn't technically head girl, so I really wasn't supposed to be living in these quarters. Some Gryffindor I was, cowering in front of a silly painting. Never-less, I straightened up and said the password clearly, "Wi-Fi." The portrait swung open, and I hurried through the hole, into the safety of the Head common room. I wasn't the only one in the dorm though. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were all sitting comfortably in the chairs around the fireplace. They were talking about something, I couldn't hear what though. Once they realized that they weren't alone anymore, all talk stopped and they all turned their heads to me. Sirius grinned, jumped to his feet and trotted over to me. Behind him, James whistled with both his pinkies between his lips. Turned around, rolling his eyes. "Shut up, Prongs." he called back to James. Then he turned back to me, and pulled me over to a corner of the room. My heart was beating a million times a minute. _Wait…why was I getting so nervous? _Sirius leaned in and then spoke, quietly, "Can I borrow that book now?" _Thank god. He only wants a book. _ I nodded and then walked into Lily and mine's room, Sirius waited in the doorway. I went over to the small book case that was in between Lily and mine's beds and scanned the shelf for my copy of The Hunger Games. It didn't take very long; I had all the books organized in order of their series.

I pulled out the paperback copy and then returned to the doorway, where Sirius stood waiting. "I'd like it back without any rips, folds or stains. Just the way you found it. I have the rest of the series if you want them when you're done this one" I said as I handed him the book.

"Thanks," he said, smiling, "how many books are there?"

"Three," I answered, and then a thought popped into my head. "And you have to read all three of them before the Hogsmeade trip. If you don't, I won't go with you. Deal?" I challenged him.

He thought about this for a minute, weighing out the pros and cons. Evidently, the pros beat out the cons. I guess he really did want to go with me. "Deal" he said, holding out his hand to shake on it, and I did. But he didn't release my hand after he shook it. Instead he moved his fingers, without letting go of my hand completely. He locked them with mine, so our palms were touching. "There's just only one flaw in this master plan of yours." He said airily.

"And what's that?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not very advanced in the art of reading"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well I think I have a solution for that."

Sirius smirked and asked, "And that would be?"

"Have Remus read it to you."

"What? Why can't you read it to me?"

"Because you have to get through this task on your own. If I read it to you then that would be cheating."

"Come on, please?" he begged, making a sad puppy face. He was oddly good at those. Weird…

"Tell you what, you if you can read the first book by second period, tomorrow, then I'll read the last two books to you" he nodded. I dropped his hand and shoved the book to his chest, "now, go read."

"Yes, 'mam." He walked away, and went to sit in the chair by the other Marauders. I shook my head at him and he dropped his head and walked over to another chair in the far corner of the room. I gave him thumbs up once he was seated in the proper reading spot. He resembled a puppy that had just been scolded. _How was he so good at these puppy-like faces?_ _I wonder if he'll actually read the book himself. I doubt it. I guess I'll find out tomorrow by second period._

**Okay so I know The Hunger Games was obviously not around when James and Lily were around, but I couldn't think of any older novels that I was familiar with. So, hate on it if you wish, but I have plans for this story, and Sirius reading the hunger games is in fact part of it. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow night. Enjoy! And please Review, follow, fav, or all of the above **** ~Blue-Foods.42 **


	6. Trouble with thieves

Chapter 6:

I woke up later that night. Lily was still asleep and it was still dark out. The clock on my bedside table read 2:00am. There was no way I'd fall back asleep now, I was wide awake. For a while, I just laid there. Twisting and turning, hoping to find a comfortable spot and fall back asleep. But it didn't work, it just made me more uncomfortable. Finally I got up slowly from my bed, trying to be as quiet as possible, so I wouldn't wake up Lily. But of course, having my luck, I tripped over my school bag and fell face first into the floor. Smooth Ruby, I thought to myself. Luckily, Lily was still sleeping soundly. Oblivious to everything around her. Man she was a heavy sleeper! Lily was sprawled out across her bed, snoring loudly. And from the looks of it, she was a drooler too. Wonder what James would say if I told him that she drooled in her sleep? Nah, I'm not that bad of a friend.

I creeped away from Lily and into the common room. To my surprise, Sirius was laying across the couch by the fireplace, passed out with The Hunger Games laying on his chest. He must have fallen asleep while reading it. He looked so...dare I say...innocent when he slept. Younger, and less annoying. I liked him better this way. I stood there for a while, watching him sleep. God I'm creepy, watching people sleep. Then I shook him awake, whispering ever so quietly, "Sirius. Sirius, wake up."

His eyes fluttered open, revealing his greyish, mesmerizing eyes. He seemed confused about why he was in a chair and not him bed. "Ruby? What's going on?" He asked, sleepily. I have to admit, his sleepy voice was really attractive...

"I think you fell asleep while reading" I explained to him. I picked up the book and placed it on the table close by, making sure that I marked the page before closing it. He was three-quarters of the way through it. "I guess you're taking this deal pretty seriously"

"Well, yeah. I mean why wouldn't I?" He smiled sleepily. He sat up a bit and rubbed his eyes like a child.

"Oh, I don't know," I blushed slightly, "how do you like the book so far."

"I love it."

"Really?!" I asked excitedly. I sat down on the couch beside him.

"Yeah, the idea of these kids are our age and are being thrown into an arena to fight for their lives, is kind of..."

"Brutal" I finished for him.

He nodded and smiled. "Exactly. Only one problem with this book."

I scowled. "There's nothing wrong with this book."

"Well, there's just one small detail that I think the author got wrong."

"And what's that?"

"Katniss should have ended up with Gale" he said simply, folding his hands behind his head.

"What?! How can you say that?" I hissed at him.

"Peeta doesn't deserve her," he shrugged, "he's not manly enough. He's kinda wimpy. I hope he dies in the next one."

"You take that back!"

"Why? It's true."

"No! It's not! You haven't even read the others yet."

"So? I doubt it would change my opinion."

"I bet it would."

"Really?"

"Really." I folded my arms and glared at him, challenging him to say anything else against my favourite book. I tried my best to look intimidating, but it didn't seem to work. I'll have to take lessons from Lily sometime.

He smirked, "you know it's really hard to take you seriously when you're wearing such adorable PJ's." I looked down at my PJ's and saw, to my horror, that I was wearing my sky blue onesie, with yellow rubber ducks.

"It's comfortable" I said sticking my nose in the air.

"It's adorable" he said, smirk growing. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't stop my face from going as red as Lily's hair. "Why are you up anyway?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep" I said simply.

"What time is it?" I showed him the face of my muggle watch, which was strapped to my wrist. 2:30am. "Are you still tired?" He asked. I shook my head. To be honest, I was exhausted. Sure I was mentally awake, but I was physically tired. I craved sleep. I think Sirius could tell that I was lying. "Here, lay down." He said, waving me closer.

"What?"

"Lay down. Sleep."

I obeyed. There was no use arguing. I was too tired, and the thought of sleep is what drew me closer to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and rapped my arms around his waist. Sirius placed a comforting arm around me and pulled me closer. I curled up to him and my eyes instantly became heavy. I could just make out the golden flames in the fireplace through my blurred vision. "Sweet dreams, Rube" he whispering in my ear, kissing the top of my head.

I'm only allowing this to happen this one time! I told myself sternly. Only this one t-time. I yawned and then just like that, I was out like a light.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Through squinted eyes, I could just make out a tall figure standing I front of me. There was light seeping in through one of the windows, on the far side of the room. It couldn't be any later than 6:30 in the morning, I could still see some darkness in the horizon. Somehow, my positioned changed while I was sleeping and now my head was on Sirius' lap, his one arm draped across my waist. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes, as Sirius had done before. Now I could see who was standing in front of me, James Potter. He had his hands on his hips, tapping his one shoe repeatedly on the floor. A smirk was plastered to his face. I looked at Sirius and he had the same look on his face. Then James spoke. "Nice job Padfoot" he said, then turned and strutted away. "Oh, and nice onesie, Dixon" he called over his shoulder.

I fought to keep my face from going red. I turned and looked at Sirius, who was grinning proudly. "What are you so smug about?" I asked, pointedly.

"Oh nothing" he said, his grin widened.

"Don't think that changes anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"I'm serious"

"Actually, no. I'm Sirius. You're Ruby."

I shook my head and stared at the ceiling. There was no getting through to him was there? "I'm going to get ready for breakfast. Don't tell Lily what happened. Promise?" I said sternly.

"Pinkie promise." He held out his pinkie and I wrapped my own around it. "See you soon" he said, winking. I got the chills and shivered.

"Don't do that!" I nearly shouted, but not quite. I still didn't want to wake Lily up, she was not a morning person. Emphasis on 'not'.

"Do what?" He grinned even wider. If that was even possible.

"Do that winking thing. It just creepy." I shivered again at the thought of it.

"It's supposed to be charming, it drives the ladies crazy."

"Well it doesn't work on me so give it up." With that said, I walked out of the room.

Lily was still sprawled across her bed. She had shifted position during the night; somehow managing to have her head where her feet should be and her feet on her pillows. There was drool on the side of her mouth and loose strands of hair were mixed into it. Sleeping Beauty everyone. "Lily," I said quietly, standing beside her bed. She didn't move or even acknowledge that anyone was there. "Lily," I said louder. Still nothing. "LILY!" She still didn't wake up. She really was a heavy sleeper. There was only one option left. I walked over to the bathroom that we shared with the boys. There was already an empty glass sitting on the ledge of the sink. I picked it up and filling in to the top with icy, cold water.

When I re-entered our bedroom, I walked back over to Lily's side and said, to the sleeping redhead, "you've left me with no choice, Lily. This is for your own good." And with that, I dumped the cold tap water on Lily's head.

Instantly she jumped up. An odd yelp escaped her, one that resembled a mixture of both a ferret and a newborn puppy. Something along those lines at least. Lily whipped her head around the room, looking for the criminal responsible for this assault. Her eyes settled on me. Took her long enough, seeing as I'm standing right in front of her. She looked both shocked and furious. Not a good combination...

"What the hell was that for?!" Lily shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

"You wouldn't wake up" I shrugged.

"So you decided it would be best to dump that freezing cold water over my head? I'm gonna be sick now, thanks to you."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic"

"Just remember that I have access to that sink too while you're sleeping."

"Wow. I didn't think you'd be so pissed about it."

"Well think again." Lily grumbled curses as she climbed out of her bed. The majority of that end of the bed was soaked from the water. Lily herself, looked like a drowned cat, and just as grumpy to. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start her off in a mad mood.

"Why are you up so early anyway?" She asked, while shooting me a glare, "you're usually up after me."

I forced myself not to blush as I came up with an answer, "ummm... I couldn't sleep. Nightmares, you know. I fell asleep on the couch in the common room." Most of it was true. I did fall asleep on the couch, I couldn't sleep, but the nightmares were a lie...this time at least.

"Oh. Same ones as usual? The nightmares I mean?" The anger in Lily's began to vanish, turning into concern.

"Yes...and no" I couldn't lie to my best friend...could I?

"New and old ones then?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"I see, I see." She nodded her head a few times, then turned to her trunk. "I'm going to take a shower" she said, without looking back at me.

"Ok, I'll take it next." then a thought rolled into my head, "what day is it?"

"Sunday...why?" She turned around, holding her clothes that she'd picked out for today.

"Ummm, no reason. Just forgot, that all." I turned around to leave the room, but was stopped by the time I made it to the door.

"Ruby?"

I turned back on my heel to look at Lily. Her arms were folded, she had a look on her face that clearly said 'I want answers, now!'. I grimaced. Sometimes I wished that we couldn't read each other so well. "What?" I said, a little to innocently. She would sniff out my lies, it was only a matter of time.

"Are you ok?" She asked. I nodded, but she wasn't convinced. "Be honest, Ruby. Are you alright?"

"Yes. Lily. I'm fine." I smiled reassuringly. She nodded, finally, as if I was dismissed. I turned once more, and walked back into the common room. I scanned the room. But what I was looking for, wasn't there. So I went over to the boys bedroom door. With a heavy breath; I nocked on the door, twice. The door swung open almost immediately, revealing James' bright face. He looked hopeful for some reason. But when he saw me, he frowned and said, "oh. It's just you"

"Well who else would it be?" I asked, slightly offended.

James' blushed slightly. "Lily" he mumbled.

"Don't be stupid"

It was he's turn to look offended this time. "What did you want anyway? Or did you just come here to insult me?"

I breathed in deeply. "I need to talk to Sirius" I huffed.

At the mention of his name, Sirius poked his head into the door frame. "Did someone call me?" He grinned. His hair was damp and just touched his shoulders. It looked darker when I was wet. Sirius was rubbing a towel through his hair as he continued to grin at me. "Good morning, Dixon. Sleep well love?"

"Shut up" I mumbled. I wasn't proud of last night, but I was tired, and couldn't think straight. It was like I was acting without control. "I need to talk to you."

"Interesting" Sirius rubbed his chin, pretending to think it over. "Sure, I'd love to talk with you." He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, blocking James out of the conversation. "So. What's up?"

"I forgot that we didn't have class today. That it was Sunday." I said simply.

"And?"

"I told you to read the book by second period, today."

"And?"

"So I'm changing that to by lunch, today."

"What?"

"You have till lunch today. Otherwise, I don't help you read the rest by the Hogsmeade trip." I repeated.

"But-"

"Do you not like the book?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then I should be easy for you to finish by lunch."

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts. Go read. Now." I shoo'd him away and walked over to the bathroom door. It was right in-between the entrance to the boys' room, and the girls'. I nocked on this door too. "LILY!" I shouted.

"WHAT?!" She shouted back.

"ARE YOU ALMOST DONE?"

"ALMOST!"

"OKAY, COOL"

"WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?" Sirius yelled from the chair in the far corner of the common room.

"I DON'T KNOW" I shouted back.

"STOP SHOUTING!" James screamed from the boys' room.

"OKAY!" Sirius, Lily, and I all shouted at the top of our lungs to James. I could just imagine him clenching his eardrums, trying to block out the yelling. I heard the shower water stop running, and then snuffing in the bathroom. A minute later, Lily emerged. Steam poured out of the bathroom behind her.

"Did you leave any hot water for us?" I joked.

"Ha ha" she mocked.

I smirked and said, "Okay, my turn." I walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind.

The bathroom was fairly large. There was a bathtub the side of a queen-sized bed, a double-sink countertop, a glass shower with one of those rain shower heads, and a simple, white toilet, in the far corner. Above the toilet, was a shelf full of towels and extra toilet paper. I grabbed a fresh towel and walked over the the shower and started turned it on. It was already so steamy in here, it felt like a sauna. I figured I would do the earth a favour if I avoided doing what Lily did, so I turned the tap onto cold water. The colder it was, the faster I'd get out of the shower.

So far, my theory worked. I was only in for as long as I needed. Lather, rinse, and repeat. Then I was out. The steam had died down a bit, now that the cold air had gotten to it. I picked up my towel and started to dry myself off. Then, I realized something. I forgot to bring in my clean clothes. I looked around for my PJ's, at least I could wear those until I reached my room, right? But they weren't there. None of them. Where did they go? They couldn't have grown legs and walked away. Finally I gave in and wrapped the towel around me, enough that it covered my unmentionable places on the front and back.

I opened the bathroom door and scanned the common room, making sure no one would see her. The coast was clear. I slowly made my way to the girls' bedrooms. Then someone whistled. I spun around and saw James and Sirius peeking out from behind the couch. "Forget something, love?" Sirius said, grinning evilly. James held up my onesie, while Sirius held up my...oh no! No! Oh my god, my life was over! "Nice choice, Rube. Love the rainbows."

"Give them back, you perverts!" I hissed.

"What's the magic word?" James chimed.

"Give it back now, or I'll hex you so bad that you'll never leave 's"

"That'll do" James tossed back my onesie. I caught it and waited for Sirius to hand back my unmentionables. But he didn't. Instead he inspected them, eying them curiously.

"Sirius" I growled.

"I think I like you better in that towel" Sirius winked.

"You know, you're one more strike away from no Hogsmeade trip." I snatched my clothing back from him and stomped back into my room. I could hear Sirius and James howling with laughter as I slammed my door.

"What's up with you?" Lily asked. She was standing just by the door, on the right side, doing her hair in the mirror. Her red hair was in tiny spirals that met the midway point on her back.

"Marauders" I grumbled. It was the answer that explained all of Lily and mine's problems. She nodded and then turned back to the mirror. Lily didn't even seem to question why I was only wearing a bath towel. What a good friend. I rummaged through my trunk until I found the clothes I wanted for today. Since it was only Sunday, I didn't need to wear my robes. Most students do anyway, but I chose to be different. I picked my grey jogging pants and a purple t-shirt, plus new undergarments (ones that hadn't been infested with Black germs).

On my way back to the bathroom, I went to shoot James and Sirius a glare, but there were now four instead of two boys in the common room. Remus and Peter had joined. They each began to snicker as I passed. They were such prats.

I dressed as quickly as I could while in the bathroom. The steam that was fogging the bathroom before had now vanished completely. I turned back to the mirror over the sink and cast a charm to dry out my hair, with my wand. Magic was very useful sometimes. Once my hair was dried completely, a nice silky, golden brown, I began to do a French braid. Careful not to mess up, I placed one fine strand of hair over the other, until there was no hair left to braid. I tied off the tip and let it drop, it came down to my midsection. There were charms for this too, but it just wasn't the same as doing it the muggle way. I looked at my self in the mirror for a while. My dark blue eyes were brighter and bluer than ever. The tiny freckles, sprinkled on my face, were more visible. Braids do that to me sometimes. I kinda liked it. I never wore makeup, there just never was a need for it. Turning away from the mirror, I tossed my bath towel into the laundry hamper beside the sink. Then I left the bathroom once again, this time with clothes on.

The morning flew by quickly. For a while, Lily and I just roamed the school grounds talking after breakfast. I had already finished my homework for the weekend, so there was absolutely nothing to do now. Hogwarts is not as action pack as older wizards like to make it sound. Unless there was a Quidditch game, nothing exciting happened. Except maybe the whole magic thing, that was always exciting no matter how old you were. Lily and I were now sitting along the lake bed where less than a week ago, I almost kissed Sirius Black. Most girls would kill to date Sirius. I, on the other hand, would kill to be one of the girls that he steers clear of. But of course, the world is not a wish granting factory. The lake was covered in a light fog that settled just over the horizon. Students were scattered across the grounds. Some were playing a lazy game of Quidditch, a handful were studying under trees by the lake, and others were just chilling in the shade. Everyone was doing something to savour the warm heat from the September sun. I glanced over at Lily, who was reading a book while leaning against one of the trees. I, myself, was levitating random things with my wand, trying to pass time. I was just levitating a rock from nearby, when running footsteps and a voice came screaming from behind. I turned around abruptly, and Lily yelped. The rock had fallen on her head. She rubbed the lump on her head glaring at me, as she turned her attention to the bodies sprinting toward us. As they came into view, I realized that it was the Marauders. All four of the bloody prats. Sirius, James and Remus were in the lead, Sirius slightly farther than the others. Peter was hobbling behind them. Running as fast as his short, fat legs could carry him. I Pity them sometimes.

"Ruby! Ruby!" Sirius shouted. He was almost to us now, juggling down the small slope to the lake bed. He was clutching something small in his one hand. "I'm done! I'm done!" He continued to shout.

"Done what exactly?" I asked.

He came to a haunt in front of me. James and Remus skidded to a stop on either side of him. Peter joined a few seconds later, bumping into James and toppling over. He picked himself up and stood beside James, blushing furiously and apologizing repetitively. Remus shook his head slightly at Peter and turned to me, "I swear, he's not right in the head sometimes." Peter hadn't really seemed to hear what Remus had said. I shook my head also and leaned back against the tree and Sirius shuffled to block my view of the lake.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I finished it!" Sirius exclaim, proudly.

"Come again?" I questioned.

"The book! I finished the Hunger Games!"

"Seriously?"

"Well, obviously"

"Remus didn't help you?"

Sirius frowned slightly, as if I had just insulted him. "No" he scoffed, "I read it all on my own. No help at all."

I glanced over a Remus, he nodded his head to agree with Sirius. "Ok then," I said sceptically, "I'll test you on it then?"

"Wait, what?" Sirius looked taken back.

"I'll ask you questions about the book and if you get them right then I'll believe you."

"Ok, go ahead. I doubt I'll get one wrong" he smirked, after recovering from his slight shock.

"Ok..." I tapped my index finger on my chin, "what's Katniss' sister's name?"

"Pfft. That's easy! Primrose, aka: Prim"

"Umm. How did her father die?"

"Mine explosion."

"When did Peeta develop a crush on Katniss?"

"Since the fist time he laid eyes on her. In other words, the first day of kindergarten."

"What kills 'Foxface'?"

"Night locks"

"What story does Katniss tell Peeta in the cave?"

"When she buys Prim a goat."

"Ok, last one. Most people in the Seam have what colour of eyes?"

"Grey"

"Ok, I guess you did read the book." I said disappointedly. I crossed my arms and let out a huff.

"And you doubted me." Sirius shook his head and smirked down at me. "So? When are you gonna start reading the next one to me?"

"Do I have too?" I wined.

"Yes. It's in our contract."

"I don't remember signing anything"

"Well it wasn't a written one, more like a verbal one. And you," he pointed at me, "are not weaselling your way out of it this time."

"Fine," I grumbled, "we'll start tonight."

"Perfect. See you in the common room then, my lady." He bowed and then trotted away. The other Marauders followed. James peered back at Lily from over his shoulder and winked, then tousled his hair out of habit. He always had this wind swept look to his black hair, like he had just gotten off his broom after catching the snitch. "See ya Evans" he called over his shoulder. Lily didn't even acknowledge it, she just kept reading her book as if nothing happened. I could learn a few things from her.


	7. Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Chapter 7:

"I can't stand this!"

"Stand what?" Lily looked over to me and gave me a questioning look. We were in the great hall once again, eating lunch. Clover was sitting across from me, Lily beside her, and Anna beside myself. I had my head in my hands staring off at nothing particular. The food on my plate in front of me was hardly touched. "Can't stand being bored, I'm bored out of my mind!" I grumbled, dropping my head onto the table.

"Stop complaining," Anna waved her hand, as if swatting my issues away from her.

"Yeah, we go to a bloody magic school, for Merlin's sake" Clover added.

"Well, yeah. But I mean, all we ever do anymore is eat, sleep, and do magic or homework. None of us play quidditch. Hogsmeade isn't until Saturday. There's nothing to do now that our homework is done!" I complained.

"We could…" Anna started, and then stopped, realizing that there really was nothing to do.

"Exactly." I grumbled once more.

"Well, I've got an idea." Clover piped up. I picked up my head and looked over at her. she continued once she had my full attention, "we could try a different sport. Something new, if you're bored of magic sports."

I considered this for a moment, and then remembered that I was bored. Something is better than nothing, I guess. "Sure, why not?" I complied.

Lily seemed a little wary about the idea. "What did you have in mind?" she asked sceptically.

"Baseball" Clover answered simply. I perked up at the muggle sport.

"Pardon?" Anna asked.

"Baseball." She repeated.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Anna sounded horrified, like it was a sickness of sorts.

"It-"

"It's a muggle sport that is played in the states" is butted in, "I've been to a couple of games myself with my dad, and watched a bit on one of my dad's programs. It's only one of the best—no scratch that—it _is _the greatest muggle sport in the world. They don't play it much around here. Honestly Anna, you've never heard of it?" Anna shook her head in the negative. "It's were you play on this big field of grass and dirt and you've on these four bases—five if you count the pitcher's mound—and the pitcher's gotta pitch a ball to you and the batter's got to hit it with a bat and-"

"Slow down there Ruby. We get it, you know how to play." Lily cut me off, "frankly, I'm surprised that you know what it is, Clover."

Clover shrugged then said, "My dad head about it and took me to a game when I was little. It looked pretty cool, considering there's no magic allowed."

"So? Are we gonna play or what?" I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat. Lily shrugged and Clover nodded. I looked at Anna beside me and put on my best puppy dog face. "Please? Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" I pleaded.

Anna huffed and then nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll play" she agreed.

"YES!" I shrieked, "Let's play ball!" I stood up and sprinted out of the great hall, through the grounds, and down to the clearing alongside the forbidden forest. When I came to a halt on the clearing, I remembered something. _My glove!_ _How am I supposed to play ball without my freakin ball glove? _My glove was still at home on my shelf above my bed, along with all of the trophies I've collected since I was little. _What about everyone else? They don't have gloves either!_ I started to panic to myself, and then remembered that I was at a wizarding school. _I'll just transfigure some gloves. _I turned around (towards the school) and saw Anna, Clover, and Lily trotting down the hill towards me. "Anyone got a few mittens or something?" I called to them.

Once they caught up, Anna huffed out a response to my question. "Got some up in my room." She pulled out her wand and said, "_Accio gloves_." A few seconds later, two pairs of old mittens soared towards the clearing. Anna caught them graciously. Lily seemed to understand where I was going with this, and took the gloves from Anna. She easily transfigured them into baseball gloves, three lefties and one righty, and handed one to each of us.

"how'd you know that I caught with my right hand?" Clover asked.

Lily just shrugged and said simply, "you write with your left hand."

I punched the palm of my glove and then remembered something else. "We still need a ball, a bat, and bases." Lily walked over to the edge of the forbidden forest and picked up a rock, then transfigured it into a baseball the size of an apple. The turned a few leaves into bases and fallen branch into an old wooden bat, St. Louisville Slugger style. "Perfect" I said in awe. I levitated the bases to an approximant distance away from each other. The home plate was closest to the edge of the forest, so when we hit the ball it goes towards the school instead of into the forest. I measured out the distance from home plate to the pitcher's mound, seven large paces exactly. Once satisfied with the placement of the other bases, I turned back to my friends and began to punch my gloved palm. "Who's ready to play ball?"

"But there's only four of us….don't we need more players?" Anna said.

"Oh, yeah. Right then," I turned to Lily, "can you summon people with _accio?_"

Lily shrugged, "might as well try."

_Sirius."_ I said clearly. Lily took my lead and said, "_Accio James." _Then Anna and Clover summoned Remus and Peter. We also tried summoning some other Gryffindor. Including, Travis Davies, Alice Thomson, Luke Pearce, Cole Grant, Spencer Chambers, Leigha Price, Heather Cox, Lou Reynolds, Louis Jaxson, and Rose Martin. For a few minutes, nothing happened. A gust of wind blew past us, and we continued to wait. I huffed and began to turn away from the castle, which I was so hopefully watching. Then something caught my attention, a faint scream filled the air. I faced the castle once more and saw the outline of Sirius Black soaring towards me, the same way Anna's mittens did earlier. Sirius continued to scream until he stop suddenly in front of us, suspended in midair, and then dropped with a thud at my feet. Sirius groaned and then stood up, rubbing the back of his head, "what the hell just happened?"

"Yes! It worked!" I jumped up and down and hugged Sirius. I'm not quite sure why though. _Maybe because I was excited that the spell worked? Yeah, let's go with that._ I would have even hugged Peter if he had of showed up first. Sirius seemed shocked at the gesture, I was too. _Smarten up! _ I scolded myself. I pulled away immediately and stepped away. "We used the _accio _charm to get you, and a lot of others, down here to play a game of baseball" I explained.

"What in Merlin's beard is _baseball_?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly.

"It's only the greatest-"

"-muggle sport in the world" Anna finished, "we know Rube. Now, you might as well wait until everyone else shows up, before you start explaining the history of the sport again."

"Fine." I folded my arms and let out a huff. A few minutes later, the sky began to fill with flying bodies. Each coming in the same order that we had summoned them in. Soon, everyone was getting to their feet, and questioning why they were here. I explained as best as I could, though most of the lot was half-bloods or purebloods. Only a handful were muggle-born and understood how to play. I had the muggle-borns help me lay out the rules and then transfigure more gloves out of old mittens. Before long we were ready to play.

"Okay, so, I think team captains would be the easiest way to divide us up evenly," said Travis, "I nominate Ruby as one of the captains."

"I second that!" called Alice. Several more people agreed also.

"I nominate Sirius!" shouted James, from the back of the group. When no one spoke up, he continued, "anyone care to second that?" He elbowed Peter in the ribs, with a yelp of pain, Peter piped up. "I do!" he squeaked.

"Perfect," James said gleefully, clapping his hands together, "let's get started shall we?"

"Ladies first" Sirius said politely.

"Fine. Okay, I pick….Luke" I said. Luke sauntered over to my side and folded his arms; I did the same, as if to intimidate the opposing team. Luke was well built and tall with sandy blonde hair, perfect structure for a ball player. "Your turn" I smirked at Sirius. This was going to be easy, he didn't know what a potentially good ball player looked like.

"Fine. I pick Spencer." Ha! Spencer was the tiniest kid on the field! This is going to be a piece of cake.

"Clover."

"Alice."

"Travis."

"Louis."

"James."

"What?! You can't take him! He's my main man!" Sirius threw his hands in the air.

"Then you should have chosen him earlier. James, get over here." I pointed to the spot beside me and James trotted over, glancing back apologetically at Sirius.

"Fine," Sirius folded his arms over his chest, pouting, "Cole."

"Wow. Thanks mate, I feel so loved," Cole said sarcastically.

"Lou." I said, ignoring Cole's comment.

"Leigha."

"Rose."

"Heather."

"Lily."

"Anna."

"Remus."

"Fine, I'll take Peter then." Peter stumbled over to Sirius' team. He was the last one, everyone else was already picked. "Where do you want us then?" Sirius turned to face me.

"Umm, I think we'll take first bat. You guys can take the field," I instructed. I spun on my heel and faced my team. Together, we walked over to the edge of the forbidden forest where a fallen tree lay. _Might as well us this as our dugout._ I shrugged and tossed my glove onto the log. "Okay," I said to my team, "who wants to bat first?"

"I will." Lou put up her hand to turn my attention to her. I nodded and she trotted up to home plate, picked up the wooden bat, and took a few practice swings outside of the batter's box. Lou was a muggle born, so she must have played when she was younger too. The pitcher was Cole. He threw a couple soft pitches to the back catcher, Spencer. Lou stepped into the box and got ready for the first pitch. Cole went into his wind up and threw a pitch that was five times harder that his practice throws. The pitch just missed Lou's knees and hit Spencer's mitt with an echoing _thump_. _Man he was good._ _I hope we have a good pitcher like that. _I frown slightly at the thought. None of our players looked like much pitchers, but yet again, neither did Cole at first. Sirius really lucked out on him. Lou didn't back out of the box, instead, she stood her ground and waited for the next pitch. "Come on Lou! You got this!" I shouted, clapping my hands. Lou nodded her head and Cole threw the second pitch. This time, Lou was ready and swung. The ball soared past Cole and skidded across the grass in left field. Anna scrambled to pick it up, and then tossed it to Louis on short-stop. By that time, Lou was already safe on first. Luke walked up to the plate and hit a double out to right field and took second base, sending Lou home. Travis hit a home run. Lily got walked on the four ball rule. And James got a triple, landing himself on third base and everyone else home.

Finally, it was my turn up. I sauntered up to the plate next and picked up the bat. The same time that I stepped into the box, Cole went into his wind up. Easily, I hit the pitch out to center field and right past Peter, who was staring lazily at a butterfly in the grass. I sprinted over first, then second, and third. Leigha had just caught Peter's throw on third base and was then throwing it towards Spencer, when I slid beautifully into home plate. I stood up and fell back down immediately, yelping with pain. I looked down at my legs and saw that my right ankle was bent at an odd angle. The mere sight of it was enough to make my brain fog up. If I didn't smarten up soon, I'll faint. Spencer, being closest, hustled to my side to examine the problem. "Holy crap, this looks really bad" he said stupidly.

"No shit Sherlock" I growled threw gritted teeth. I wanted desperately to clutch my ankle to ebb the pain, but that would only make it worse. Instead, I squeezed my knee to distract myself, make it hurt somewhere else. It didn't work. The pain only grew stronger. I screamed more and Lily, Clover, Anna, James and Sirius ran up to me.

"Oh my god, Ruby" Lily gasped into her hands.

"See! This is why I don't play muggle sports!" Anna said, pointing to my ankle.

"Shut up!" Clover shouted at Anna. Everyone started shocked at Clover. She never talks to people like that! I let out another scream and Lily kneeled down beside me. "We need to get her to the hospital wing" Lily confirmed.

"I'll carry her" Sirius said firmly from behind James. No one argued with him. He scooped me up easily into his arms and I yelped as my ankle shifted angles. I would say that I could feel the bones moving under my skin, but that would be a lie. I couldn't feel anything but pain, everything was numb with agonizing pain. I laid my head against Sirius' chest and continued to groan as we made our way up to the castle. James was running alongside us, opening any doors that crossed our path. I couldn't see anyone else around us, but I assumed that Lily, Anna and Clover weren't too far behind. We were just coming through the doors of the hospital wing, when everything went black.

**Sorry I keep taking so long to update! schools taking over my life! lol**

**So here's a little bit of a different chapter, hope you like it! I'll have chapter 8 up as soon as I can :) please review what you think! Don't be mean though please. Be friendly, I'm still new at this :P ~Blue-Foods.42**


	8. the hospital wing

Chapter 8:

When I woke up, my head was pounding, I felt sick and weak. So basically, I was better off in that dark space between consciousness and unconsciousness. Being unconscious was like walking through a dark tunnel, trying to feel your way back to the light but unable to reach it until it comes to you. It's weird. You can hear almost everything around you, but you can't control your reaction to it. You can mostly feel what's around you, but you can't control yourself. And worst of all, you can't control your blather. The worst feeling in the world is waking up from fainting—when your bloody 16 years old!—is finding that you've soiled yourself. Luckily, there were no signs of urine anywhere near my hospital bed. I still had my clothes from this morning on. Thank God there are no hospital gowns in Hogwarts, as far as I knew anyway. I slowly opened my eyes and noticed through one of the windows that the sun, which was shining brightly before, was now setting beyond the horizon. That helped I guess, less stress on my eyes. This wasn't the first time I've fainted, if you haven't clued in yet, I've had more than my share of black outs. Most in random times, others in times like this. When the pain of an injury became too much, my body and mind gave in and fell unconscious. Even the smallest of injuries; broken wrist, bloody nose, sprained elbow, and yes a broken ankle. My bodies a wimp when it comes to this stuff.

The corners of my eyes were still a little fuzzy from sleep. Typical. Usually, it took a while for my mind to fully wake up, I might even faint a bit more before the days over from moving too much, too fast. My ankle felt a little weird; at least I could feel it again. Mostly. Madame Pomfrey must have fixed it up while I was sleeping. God bless her. I should really thank her when she comes back. There was shuffling beside me and I realized that someone was sitting in the chair beside my bed. "You're awake," Sirius said, straightening in his chair.

"Sadly" I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose, waiting until the black spots disappeared from my vision.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Pretty shitty actually."

Sirius chuckled lightly. "That's understandable" he said.

"What happened anyway?"

"Well you slid into home-"

"After that I mean. What happened after I blacked out?"

"Oh, right. Well you just fainted, from the pain I presume. I laid you down on a bed while Lily fetched Madame Pomfrey from her office. We all got kicked out of the wing while she worked on you. We she was done she let me back in. it didn't take very long, but I've been in here ever since, which has been about five hours I think?"

"And my ankle?" I wasn't so sure I wanted to hear the answer. But how bad could it really be? It was just a slid into home, no biggy, I've been through worse.

"Just a broken ankle. Madame Pomfrey said you can go when you wake up and are feeling strong enough."

I sighed in relief and leaned back into my pillow. "It was a pretty nice slide though, don't you think?" I said proudly.

"Beauty, but are you supposed to break something we you slide into a base? I'm still a bit new to this whole concept."

I laughed and then regretted it immediately. My head was aching. "Where is everyone?" I asked.

"After we got kicked out of here the first time, they went back down to the clearing to finish the game off. Their probably in the great hall eating dinner now though. I said I'd come get them when you woke up."

"Why didn't you go back down to the game with them? Madame Pomfrey could have told you guys when I woke up."

Sirius just shrugged and said simply, "figured I was more useful here."

"So you've been waiting here all afternoon?" He nodded. I blushed slightly, but forced the colour back out of my face. Then I remembered something else that I tend to do when I'm unconscious. "Did I talk in my sleep by any chance?" I asked

Sirius chuckled. "Now that you mention it-" _Oh God. This can't be good. _"-you did say some interesting stuff while you were out cold" he said, rubbing his chin, as if trying to remember how it all happened.

"What did I say?" I groaned.

"You were repeating a name over and over again. I think it started with an S?" he grinned mischievously. I didn't respond, I just laid there frozen. I knew what he was saying, but admitting to it would just make it worse. I could feel my face reddening again, this time there was no chance at a holding it back. Sirius continued on, "it was quite flattering really. Even unconscious you think about me. Dreaming I suppose? Hmm?" his grinned widened.

"More like a nightmare" I retorted, "you don't have any proof that I was talking at all anyway." I folded my arms and glared at him.

"Whatever you say, Rue" he leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back legs. I took the opportunity and bent over to pull on the chair leg closest to me. Sirius fell back off his chair and onto the floor, letting out an odd, strangled, yelp. I howled with laughter as he pulled himself back into his chair, using the beds on either side of him for support. Doubling over, I tried to catch my breath but failed. I was still laughing hard when Lily, Clover, Anna, James, Remus and Peter entered the infirmary.

"She's awake and laughing? And you never thought to come get us?" Anna practically shouted.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Lily threw her hands into the air, high above her head.

Sirius just shrugged. James folded his arms and said, "Keeping her all to yourself I see."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius grinned. I straightened in my bed and shot Sirius a glare, the giggles had stopped the moment Sirius answered James.

"How's the old ankle doing anyways?" James said as he patted my bad ankle. I bit back a scream. After the third pat, he stopped. But only because Lily pushed him aside, giving him a loathly glare. "What the hell are you doing Potter?! She just broke her ankle, fainted, and got it repaired, you don't just slap their injury after something like that!" she hollered at him.

James winced and recoiled, "sorry Lil"

"Don't call me that" Lily grumbled. I cleared my throat, trying to distract Lily before she murdered James. If only Lily didn't hate James so much, they would have been a cute couple. "My ankles fine, thanks for asking James" I said, shifting my leg so it wasn't so close to him. James only nodded, probably afraid to unset Lily once more.

Madame Pomfrey came scurrying out of her office. She examined my ankle from a distance, then my face, and said I could leave now. A sigh of relief escaped me. Sirius helped me out of my hospital bed, I swung one arm over his shoulder. I know I shouldn't be favouring my bad ankle, but for heavens sake I just broke it! I might as well give it a break. Wait….did I just make a pun?

I remembered something as I hobbled out of the hospital wing with Sirius supporting me. "Who won?" I asked no one in particular.

"Won what?" Peter squeaked.

"The game!"

"Oh right, your team did" he ducked his head in shame. I grinned wickedly. Sirius noticed this, "how wipe that grin off your face now won't you".

"You're just a sore loser"

"I have the right mind to just drop you here, you know that? let you walk yourself up to the dormitory"

He looked down at me; I looked back up at him. My grin didn't fade as I said, "But you won't".

With a sigh, he answered. "You're right, I won't" then he looked back up to where he was walking.

**So sorry for taking so long! I kept putting the chapter off and forgetting to post it. I know this is a really short chapter too, and the whole fainting from a broken ankle wasn't very realistic, but such is life lol. I'll try to get chapter 9 up soon. Hope you like the chapter! Enjoy **** ~Blue-Foods.42**


End file.
